Yikes, that's quite an aura of smooth those ladies are packing! And double-yikes, dwarf racism and homophobia! I love the section where Rivendell turns into a quantum polycule; it's written perfectly, where I can almost see the shifting back and forth happening in my mind's eye.

I'm scared to ask, but . . . what do those Elvish names mean? They look like real Elvish to my eye, but I don't actually know the language . . . Feel free to not answer if it's either gibberish or some horrifying concept!

—doctorlit

What a spot of luck that this particular story got missed during the Takedown! Especially since chapters that are all author's note actually are a violation of ff.net's policies. But this way, at least a little more out-of-universe notes on the event survived! Hooray for mulberry!

Aw, but what a shame her actual spin-off is only two chapters long! These other two chapters have been (bootleg!) announcements . . . I wonder if the threat of deletion affected mulberry's motivation to write more? : (

"I don't think it violated anything . . ."
Lovely to get confirmation that the admins really didn't inform the authors of the reason for getting blipped. I once again wonder why the Pit's admins run such a site, if they seem so disinterested in stories or the authors who write them.

—doctorlit bought a new car yesterday

And found both Neshomeh and Huinesoron had reviewed it.

—Ls, certain that this is irrelevant.

I especially like that Gimli and Galami show species solidarity and refuse to fight each other! I feel like Galami, and maybe the hobbits, could have integrated into canon harmlessly, so I sort of wish Jay and Acacia had let them be.

I think the whole "letting side characters reassimilate into canon" seems to be a more recent trend that started with the push to do less assassinating in general? I mean, J&A recruiting badfic characters was established as unusual, and they did kill off all bit characters in "Rambling Band" and others, too. I remember even when I was doing E/C missions they'd go out of their way to kill the bit characters there, too -- though by the time they were doing Star Trek missions they'd let a couple bits reassimilate. But during TOS era it appears that the standard procedure was to excise all non-canon stuff, including killing off bit characters. (I could, obviously, be wrong. :P)

But yeah, I do imagine that had someone been tackling "Sisterhood" now, the less obnoxious Sue-Fellowship members would be neuralysed and plonked into some other part of Middle-earth far away from the Fellowship.

Okay, I know we try to avoid talking about authors any more, but I can't avoid it here, since MS and SM are explicitly writing themselves into Middle-earth, Despatch-style. But I mostly want to focus on the implication here: stories published start shattering the canon world, but the PPC's presence was keeping the damage from spreading. When the PPC disappeared, the cracks began opening. No . . . that's not quite it, huh? Let me try again: stories published (on the Pit) start shattering the canon world, but the PPC's presence (on the Pit) was keeping the damage from spreading. When the PPC disappeared (on the Pit), the cracks began spreading. In other words, this story is written from the viewpoint that FF.net itself was the main locus of . . . all of it, all that's happening here, everything in the orbit of the PPC. It doesn't account for other fandom sites, or the in-universe possibility of fic written in other universes.

To try to tie this in to hS's theory that mirror universes were spawned from this event . . . let's see. The PPC itself is also a continuum, but unlike other published series like the Legendarium, it existed solely on the Pit. So during the time period when it was deleted, it had no form, but stories like this one and "Discontinuum" were still getting published on the Pit . . . which means the PPC's only form during that period was lines like "'They're, like, soooooo horrible!'" and "'Why do you think they hate us?'" Could this fractured and purely antithetical view point have produced the EPC? Could residents of HQ during that period actually see the cracking, the splitting off of an entire mirror HQ, complete with mirror people being formed in real time?!!?!?

Two things for fun:

"green muck smeared over their faces and hands"
Are they cosplaying as Elphaba to do witchy stuff? Cultural approp

"Sue Mary would be the first to admit the candles weren't strictly necessary, but they looked really cool"
Despite being opposed to the PPC, SM recognizes the validity of at least SOME narrative laws!

—doctorlit is still in the English, for the record

...Obviously the answer is that by the laws of quantum physics as interpreted by someone who doesn't understand them, entities must be perceived to exist. Because the stories of the PPC were erased, there was no longer any way to observe it and therefore it briefly ceased to exist until it was observable again.

This is an entirely real and accurate explanation with no problems whatsoever.

So, anyways, I read the first chapter, and oooo! Interesting, honestly! I didn't even know this existed!

I really like how these characters think they need to do some sort of ritual (or spell?) to enter the world of Middle Earth. It also seems that, even though they hate the PPC, they read far enough to know a Sue gets pushed off a tower? Interesting.

My question is why did these girls think that they needed the spell to teleport, and why did they need to smear herbs all over their faces, but I guess I can chalk it up to "people don't do their research" or it's a case of research failure on my part. Most spells I've read about mostly just requored the candles, some crystals, and maybe the herbs to be burned (the others just require chanting or very complex procedures), although I can't speak a ton since most of those things are Wiccan and I don't practice that religion. I'm only speaking on my experience with trying to go to another universe out said spells I looked up. I was a curious 13-year-old.

It also makes me wonder if anyone who belueves in Reality Shifting also believes in the PPC. Do some shifters put anti-PPC lines in their scripts? Dp they even believe the PPC can touch them? It brings up interesting questions.

-kA

Okay, the writing is a lot better here! Still could do with a bit more clash between the Suvian and OC personalities, but the interactions we do get are on point. There is one (probably unavoidable) contradiction, where the Suvians have to be knowledgeable about canon in order to identify "errors." (Knowing about Valinor, for instance.) But without that, the story wouldn't get very far, so yeah.

Unfortunately, I think there is a detail that contradicts hS's theory: the Tolkien canons we've seen so far appear to be the same as their counterparts in real life/PPC canon. But doesn't the EPC universe have morally flipped canons? Master Who and that sort?

—no Old English, the doctorlit is in the English, therefore the doctorlit is normal, therefore the review is wrong

Well, looks like I'm staying later than usual at work. Might as well catch up a little more . . . Of course, it would be a TERRIBLE shame if the individual I'm waiting for were to arrive while I'm typing and interrupt my train of thought . . .

. . .

Well anyway. No surprise to anyone that FF.net is authoritarian, but you'd think the people who run a website for fanfiction would value fanfiction enough to warn the authors ahead of time, so stories wouldn't get lost? I often day dream about going back in time to make backup copies of all the old stories that have been lost over the years. Or that I had just plain discovered the community in the early days, and thought to make copies as I went. But, we can't change the past, and there's no way to go but forward. Folks, back up your stories! We can save future Boarders the head scratching and disappointment we get from old spinoffs today!

Okay, now I'll just turn on my flashlight, but the friend DEFINITELY won't be here yet.

. . .

Dratted ironic overpower is busted tonight.

—doctorlit is indoors this time, but still imagining ant bites

If I was alive twenty years ago, I'd have been very sad at this.

(Side note: I happen to know that My Immortal was similarly deleted for no reason, a few years later. So they didn't delete just good fanfic.)

Oh hey, this one is short! Dare I try to review it on my phone, while my big lizard friend soaks up his weekly sunlight infusion? Even though there are so very many ants around me?!

I don't think I've read this before. It's not exactly laugh out loud funny, but it's rather clever, for how short chapter one is. The simplicity of naming the agents "Sue" and "Mary" is so perfectly elegant! I do wish more time was spent on watching the OC, so we could get a bit more of the Suvian perspective, but I suppose that's too much external effort for Suvians! And, of course, this story is even less designed to world-build around than even the OS was.

How great that Jay and Acacia, and Mary and Sue, all picked Maiar disguises in the same week! And on a week that really needed some nice things, too.

Making a lot of bad misclicks . . . I guess this isn't really a project for a phone screen. Time to bring the lizard back home, anyway . . .

—doctorlit, imagining ant bites . . . Or is he?

I mean, I came to it pretty dang late (years late), but I do remember it being kinda funny. Very much a fic of its type.

I figure this would definitely be a closer representation of a mirror PPC than the EPC turned out to be, though I can see why Tawaki went with "Suvian minions of the Sunflower Emperor" since it more closely mirrors (ha) the Star Trek mirrorverse with its Empire. It could be that in the Mirror Multiverse the Sunflower Emperor took over like the Mysterious Somebody did in the Prime Multiverse, leading to a delayed Reorganisation in 2008 for them.

At least in my take on the EPC the Mirror!DIS/White Cats did more than just oppose the Emperor; they appear to function as a Mirror Multiverse informant branch of the PPC. It might align with the PPD as well if any of the White Cats have canon-protection inclinations...